This is a 10 lesson long unit that saw my class using Keynote to create various graphs, charts and interrogate their data.
You could very easily use this and have your class create the graphs in their jotters - but Keynote is a wonderful app for quickly compiling data and allows for more time in a lesson to analyse and discuss what is being shown.
6 stories, all written by pupils with accompanying tasks, backdrops and soundtracks.
We would usually airdrop a story to pupils and have them read twice (once alone, second time paragraph at a time with their partner) before coming to the carpet to tackle the Quickfire Questions as a whole class.
The Comprehension activity is completed in jotters and the creative task is very free and pupil led.
First resource I’ve ever charged for - spoken with the pupils and they are happy to share and for all funds raised to go towards P7 camp
Here is a full unit of work. I delivered this over 7 weeks, with a whole Wednesday dedicated to an Engineer each week. At the end, we had the pupils create their own STEM museum for the whole school to come and view.
The day largely followed this model:
Play with K’nex/Blocks
Maths
Outdoor Game
Literacy (Podcasts)
Art
Lunch followed by another Game/STEM challenge
20 min speed write
Ethics Debate
Minecraft Models (using Redstone)
6 full days of learning here - biggest upload yet and it’s a big file!
These are the slides I used for my ‘Habitat Wednesdays’ last year, where we immerse the class in a whole day of learning around a specific biome. The day followed rough format:
Morning block play (building a Habitat with k’nex etc whilst researching)
Tabletop maths play (dice and spinners - then jotter work)
Games outside
Poetic Writing
Music (using Garageband but could just use percussion)
Art (painting progression)
Paired Dance
Following on from ‘They Change’ and ‘From Beneath’ this is another whole class story that is aimed at upper primary/early secondary pupils.
What would happen to Earth without the Moon? A thrilling tale that rockets from laughs to deep dilemma . Peppered with cliffhangers and deep questions, this story is sure to keep your class on the edge of their seats throughout. Another wonderful story from Mr Minchin, delighted to see that links can be made to the Global Goals and UNCRC in every chapter.
Twelve Chapters in all (12 lessons) each no more than two A4 pages, meaning you print these out easily enough and distribute to your class. In my own setting, our P6 and P7 pupils have iPads and I airdrop the chapters to them using the Notes app, which allows for read aloud, word lookup etc
I usually task the class with 3 reads - one in their head, the other with their partner and a third taking turns with paragraphs. By P7, you can often drop this to two reads.
The tasks are designed to follow the same pattern every lesson. Some quickfire questions to consolidate key concepts, a comprehension task (I would have mine do this in their jotters/books) and then a creative, hands on task (again, having iPads means the class can use Clips/Keynote/Sketchbook/Minecraft and more but very easy to adapt to your setting if you lack the ICT).
These lessons are designed to provide stimulating and immersive writing experiences. I would:
Have pupils draw out the map on a large surface (like a whiteboard table or big sheet of paper)
Create a LEGO figure/peg doll to serve as their character
Gather kids on the carpet and model writing the first interaction with an object
Then set the class to play independently
You could stop half way for a wee peer or self assessment
With 5 minutes to go, present the last slide in the story and have pupils conclude their stories
A quick lesson that explores mortgages and sees pupils using their knowledge of multiplication and percentages to garner an underatanding of how the property market works.
The Napier Code is a 6 lesson mathematics unit that explores patterns and sequences within number through an immersive story telling experience. It’s effectively a play on the Da Vinci Code but uses the Scottish Mathematician John Napier as the central figure in a deathly treasure hunt around Edinburghs landmarks.
Covered are:
Fibonacci Numbers
The Golden Spiral
The Number 9
Quadratic Sequences
Pascals Triangle
The Vedic Square
A series of 5 lessons that explores budgeting and calculating percentage increase/decrease all whilst discussing the Global Goals:
"You now work for Breakwater Bank.
Your first client has asked you to invest £200 in a variety of companies. They are looking for you to buy shares in businesses that are looking to rapidly expand.
You must read and understand the goals of each business before deciding how many shares you will buy.
You need to calculate your expenditure, display your investments in a graph and email your client justifying your decisions"
Low floor, high ceiling math tasks are designed to cut down workload and champion pupils in leading their learning. I usually start with a practical, hands on role play task before doing a little bit of input, followed by around 20 minutes independent work off the slide.
Percentages - get the lost property out, have pupils price it up with post it notes and then task them with reducing the items by 50%
Barbers - get A4 paper, cut it into ten strips (almost to the end of the paper) and attach to the back of chairs. Hand scissors to pupils and watch them cut, style, curl, taper and add extensions!
Area - get the blocks out, give them a rough blueprint with measurements and let them build the foundations with rulers for accuracy
All my Christmas lessons packed in here:
A 3 lesson unit of script writing, with WAGOLLs, progressions and full story
Two circuit lessons
Two maths lessons (revising FDP, Time and Measure)
A couple more small activities
Currently delivering this to two P6 classes but could be used from P4 to P7 with ease.
5 Circuit lessons, all one slide each (and linked to the Global Goals) that aim to be easy access for both teachers and pupils:
Conductors
Circuit Diagrams
Morse Code Machine
Doodlebot
Windmills
Whole class reading sounds great but I’ve always found two issues - financing and finding a suitable text the whole class can engage with. Books can be long!
This is designed for upper primary. Each chapter is no more than two pages long but there is a real variety of rich language and literacy techniques. Every chapter comes with a set of questions - ranging from word finding, literal questions to more higher order thinking tasks and a playful activity.
If you are lucky enough to have 1:1 devices (I am in that position) I am looking to airdrop this to their iPads using the Notes app, chapter at a time. Means they can markup, use read aloud and quickly look up definitions of words - whilst also saving on printing.
The story links to the Global Goals - specifically Climate Action and Life on Land.
A selection of individual, pair and team activities that require nothing more than a tennis ball. I have been taking my class outside to play these for 2x20 minute sessions after break and lunch.
This is a resource designed to work with 1:1 devices - but could be adapted using the QR codes to print out/show the pertinent information for pupils.
The idea is that children pick one QR code, scan it and take notes. They have 20 minutes to fill the main part of the ‘prof forma’ (example found in slides). The final 10 minutes is spent carouselling round other pupils to fill shorter boxes with information about the other two events from the decade.
There are regular recall sessions which I would suggest you present as a quick ‘test’ at the start of a session.
Over the course of (up to) 12 weeks, the pupils will have created their own encyclopedia of the past 120 years. The events picked aim to allow pupils to form links and see how events develop and the decisions of leaders and populations have consequences that can last many years,
These slides are created on Keynote and can be exported from powerpoint to any apple device for pupils to manipulate and learn with all the individual pieces.
Battleships works well using the drawing tool, chess is a simple case of drag and drop (get the kids to tell the other player the grid references to help identify which pawn/bishop/knight etc)
The football slide can be adapted and used with basketball, hockey, volleyball and more.
This is a format of business enterprise lessons that I hope to use throughout this term. It begins with tackling issues in school around inflated resale of Prime, using sustainability and discussions around influencers to act as a catalyset for pupil led change.
Each lesson follows this structure
Role Play in English
Classroom is setup into market/café/bus etc
Children develop roles and play
Identifying key phrases
Key English vocab then picked out and scribed on board
French vocab then taught and compared to English
Script Writing
(1:1 devices? Go to settings and change your keyboard to French!)
Write script – usually no more than 8 lines of dialogue
Pair up to revise
Role Play
Come back together as a class to role play once again
However, this time in French
I must apologise as this is unfinished but had a fair number of people ask me to upload it. This is a poetry unit designed for upper primary, teaching about famous figures from black history and culture, whilst also learning about different poetry techniques.